Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act came into force in October 2010 replacing all existing anti-discrimination laws and giving protection to people with protected characteristics.
The Equality Act strengthened legal protections for more people:
- protecting more groups of people, like those who are breast feeding, older people and carers
- doing more to protect disabled people, neurodivergent people and people with long term health conditions
- allowing employers to take positive actions to achieve a diverse workforce
- making sure service providers do not treat people unfairly
The council has a proactive approach to equalities, particularly recognising the characteristics protected in law under the Equality Act 2010. In addition, The council recognises additional groups defined as vulnerable which we support with the same level as priority. These groups are:
Carers – People who provide unpaid care for a family member or friend that could not cope without their care due to a disability, illness, mental health or addiction.
Our Looked After Children and Care Leavers – Children who have been in the care of a local authority for more than 24 hours up to their 16th Birthday are known as looked after Children. Care leavers are young people aged 16 or 17 (25 if in full time education) who were a looked after child between their 14th and 16th birthdays.
Military Veterans – People who have served at least one day in any of His Majesty’s Armed Forces either as a regular or a reservist.
The Socio-Economically Vulnerable – People who are disadvantaged by a range of factors. These include being at risk of, or experiencing poverty, health inequalities, people who are income deprived, people who live in deprived areas, people who live in poor housing or people who are socially excluded due to other characteristics such as their age, disability, gender identity, race or sexual orientation.
Public Sector Equality Duty
The Public Sector Equality Duty is part of the Equality Act 2010 and applies to public sector organisations. It says that we must meet the needs of all individuals in the way we work, when shaping policy, delivering services and in relation to our own employees. We can play our part in making society fairer by tackling discrimination and providing equality of opportunity for all.
The public sector equality duty has three aims. We must show how we have worked to:
Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act
Improve equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
Human rights
Bury Council is committed to the principles of equality, diversity and human rights.
We aim to always protect and preserve the rights and freedoms that belong to all individuals regardless of their nationality and citizenship. We believe that human rights are fundamentally important in maintaining a fair and civilised society. This is in line with the Human Rights Act 1998 and the rights and freedoms within it.
Inclusion strategy and objectives 2020 to 2024 & LET’S Do It!
The Council’s strategic commitment to inclusion is articulated in our inclusion strategy 2020 to 2024 that was agreed in early 2021 following a comprehensive external review.
The term inclusion has been intentionally used for this strategy as it incorporates equality, diversity and human rights, and our legal requirements under the Equality Act 2010.
Bury Council made a commitment to significant improvements in our equalities and inclusion practice as both an employer and service provider/commissioner. This commitment is made as part of our delivery of the Bury 2030 vision through the Let's Do It! strategy, which has inclusion at its core.
The inclusion vision for Bury 2030 is to enable every person in the borough to fully participate in and shape the collective, by supporting people to be themselves; to speak out about ideas and concerns and to be heard. It describes commitments to develop relationships, create new and developed forums to hear every voice and co-design services with the people who use them, as well as ongoing community safety activity which drives cohesion through a culture of trust, tolerance and understanding.
This will help us to further improve our equality performance and also to ensure that we meet our obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and associated Public Sector Equality Duty.
Progress against our equality objectives are reported on annually.
For more information of the inclusion work of the Council please email equality@bury.gov.uk
Equality Advisory and Support Service
For support with issues relating to organisations other than the Council, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service as they can advise you:
- If you face an incident of discrimination
- On your rights under the Equality Act
- How to find an informal way to resolve your complaint of discrimination.
They can be contacted on 0808 800 0082, via textphone 0808 800 0084 or by visiting the Equality Advisory Service website